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Must-Reads of the Week (13)

May 08, 2016

Since I finished up with school last week, I have been unusually free, which I know is not something to complain about. But I just don't know what to do with myself. This emptiness in my schedule leads to emptiness in my head. When I am not busy, my thoughts creep up on me. I begin to feel alone, hopeless and unsuccessful. Luckily, I made plans for the next few days to keep me preoccupied. Overall, despite the ups & downs, it was a pretty good week full of pretty good (and completely needed) reads. Hope you had a terrific weekend & happy mother's day to all you mothers out there!

Empty room, empty mind

1. Can we take the time to appreciate the fact that Kylie is always spot on with her blog posts? She perfectly illustrates how there's no restriction without guilt and vice versa. As she notes, it's all about balance. Having that seesaw skewed in either direction is not healthy. Deep in my ED, I felt I had to earn . I wanted to be "normal" but that version of normalcy was dictated by what society was telling me was "good" or "bad." To live rules free, that's what normal eating is to me. That's I want my relationship with food to be. Easier said than done.

Having guilt over your eating doesn’t make you thin, just like loving yourself doesn’t make you gain weight.

2. As noted above, I was feeling completely restless this weekend. And this TC article: Why you need to love yourself first before you love someone else was just what I needed to hear. Strange how life works that way, it gives you what you need when you need it the most. Only you can solve your own problems. Only you can be your answer. I need to learn to cheer myself up, to be own company, to discover what I like and what I don't. There will come a point in life where I will have to learn to be alone without allowing loneliness to consume me.

3. Lovelovelove this Refinery29 post. Women give their advice on the most important thing they learned about body image confidence in their 20s. Trust, respect, appreciation, perspective, acceptance. Those were some of the common words they shared. My biggest takeaway from it, however, is that there's not just one form of confidence. You have to find it within yourself, whatever that may mean for you.

4. Lifestyle blogger & actress Jordan Reid shared her ED story on Medium. From her desire of perfectionism to overcoming her shame, it was definitely relatable. She took ownership of her ED in this post. Rather than continue to hide it, she acknowledged her former self; she accepted it as a part of her and ultimately made her who she is today. Running from our past only allows it to control us more.